Bushbraai report:When we arrived at Letaba, I informed about a bush braai and was very happy to hear we could join one the same evening. It turned out to be a Dutch family with 3 teenagers. We had a great time together. On the way to the braai we had a little sunset drive, but all we saw were scrub hare, scrub hare and more scrub hare. The guide was starting to get a bit depressed. We were starting to get hungry.At last we saw the lights of the lanterns and the flickering of fire. The braai spot is set under a huge Leadwood tree, estimated to be nearly 3000 years old! The chef and the guard were already there and we were welcomed with a glass of brown sherry. We sat around the fire for a while until dinner was ready.The chef had prepared boerewors, lamb chops, steak and sosaties. Next to the fire were potjies with mieliepap, different kinds of potjiekos, vegetables and a sauce with an exotic name which I seemed to have forgotten. The table was beautifully set with candles. We had a delicious meal and some nice wine to accompany it.Halfway the meal a tree near us started to rustle and then another one rustled and shook violently. You should have seen our faces! It was a white faced scops owl that had dropped in to see what we were up too.We had a lovely time and I can highly recommend the Letaba bushbraai to everyone. There is a minimum of 4 people.

Matambeni bird hide (on Letaba River) taken from a loop off the S46.
A really productive spot. Lots of waterbirds, hippos, crocs and other game that come to drink along the river as well as a really beautiful setting.

The overcast sky in the pic did not bring any rain with it......

Last edited by DinkyBird on Sat Nov 05, 2005 5:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Believe that the elephant museum is going to look super with all the new improvements. The elephant which was terrorizing so many people near Croc Bridge and was taken out, his skeleton is going to be mounted in the meseum as well as Mandleve's tusks. Should make for some interesting viewing in the new museum.

We spent two nights at Letaba during a recent visit (September 2006). This was our first visit to Letaba. Although it is still rated very high by the forum members as far as favourite main camps are concerned, we’ve got a somewhat neutral feeling about it. Service levels were reasonable (nothing spectacular, but also nothing horrendous to mention), although the cleaning staff was the friendliest we have experienced on the whole trip (except for Talamati).

We asked for specific bungalows beforehand (put in three options) and despite receiving written confirmation that our request will be adhered to, we did not get any of the requested options. Our bungalow (number 45 in block D) was very far from the riverbed and to call it “river view” is IMHO very misleading. Tried as we might, we could not get a different one. Be that as it may, this was not a major train smash for us and we were richly rewarded with a few very special bird sightings, courtesy of some kind of “berry-carrying tree” right in front of our bungalow. The impala lilies also added some refreshing colour to the camp. (see photo).

We did however enjoy all the roads around Letaba very much, despite not spotting anything “serious” from an animal perspective. This was firstly because there was less traffic around but more importantly because we did not see one single jeep jockey in that area. It is also worth mentioning our guide on the night drive at Letaba, namely Kenny. This guide was truly awesome and really proved once again that you don’t need to show them lions / leopards on a night drive to still make it a huge success for the tourists.

I first stayed at Letaba in 1976. I was 19 and it was my first trip to KNP. My next opportunity to visit KNP was in 1981 with SO and 6 month old daughter. We stayed at Letaba and Skukuza.

For some historical perspective, back in those days black people could only stay in circle A, huts 1 to 6 in Letaba. Similarly, we had a small area allocated to us in Skukuza and Lower Sabie and the Balule camp (which had 5 huts). Therefore Letaba was always on our itinerary and is very special to us.

We have seen lion, leopard and cheetah in the area and have plenty of wonderful experiences of seeing huge tuskers and some mock charges and one or two very scary moments. I remember the days when hyena use to patrol the fences as soon as it was dark. Also have wonderful memories of Engelhard dam.

The children spent many a hot afternoon on the lawn alongside circle A, running under the sprinklers to cool off. Now that they are older they do no like Letaba and call it the mopani pit claiming that the mopani hides everything.

On our recent trip my son took these photos in the elephant hall. For those that have not visited the hall it contains all sorts of information on ellies and also tusks of the magnificent seven……..here are three of them